“It seems to be going all right.” I observed from my vantage point overlooking the enemy Territory. Shaeula was behind me, still favouring her injured limb, although my efforts and her natural recovery had left it in much better shape.

“Well, one thing you can rely on trolls for-for is destruction.” She sniffed. Down below several trolls were making use of their great vitality and the heavy armour I had gifted them with, slamming into the defensive barrier with reckless abandon. Orc corpses were diminishing to ether, where they had foolishly challenged the trolls. Bolts of aetheric light were occasionally slamming into our forces, but even the more powerful bolt of the Sniper Emplacement was not enough to bring a troll down, though the armour was starting to look ragged, punched full of metal craters.

Damn, I’m going to have to fix them all later, aren’t I? A leaders’ work is never done…

Still, with several smaller groups of Trolls and Grulgor attacking other places, the defenders were stretched thin. And when enemy forces gathered to repel one attack en-masse, that was when Shaeula and I started our own assaults, blasts of wind and fire weakening the barrier. Defensive barriers were strong, but against such persistent attacks, it was already starting to collapse in places. Still… Yeah, breaking the barrier is the easy part. Once in the Territory we’ll be weakened, and have to fight against that wraith on her own terms. Still, I’ve kept Foehn hidden for that reason…

Shaeula lowered her hand, spears of wind slamming down on the barrier in multiple places, shards of emerald energy pushing through and blasting the ground within. “No need to overthink things Akio. We do not-not need to rush. Once the foe is exhausted and overstretched, then we should strike!”

I nodded, ruffling her hair. “Yeah… the only concern is if the master of the Territory comes forth, but then… beating him head-on offers several outcomes which could benefit us.”

“In that case-case, you should return to the Material. You have been here long, your fatigue is showing.”

I was pretty tired. I had spent much effort on Ether Healing, in addition to my crafting exploits. The enemy Territory on my borders was a niggling thorn, one that I wished to excise as quickly as possible, but unless the situation changed we had reached a sort of rough stalemate, so another day to let Shaeula fully recover and get me to peak condition was probably wise. Plus I always have things to do back at the shrine…

“Good advice. You are in charge then. Now that we have a second Kamaitachi to support you, you’ll be fine.”

“Hmph, I would be fine-fine even if I was alone, who do you think I am?”

After some more banter we retreated to the shrine, following the trolls who had also withdrawn, though they headed off to attack another location. I then returned to the Material plane.

Opening my eyes in my shabby apartment, I realised that soon I’d be waking up elsewhere. Surprisingly, I found I’d actually miss it a little. Checking the clock it was just after midday. My phone was also blinking at me, no doubt with missed calls or messages from Karen-chan. Getting up I stretched and ran through a quick workout to loosen my muscles, and while I was winding down my phone rang. Picking it up I was surprised to see the caller wasn’t Karen-chan, but…

“Afternoon, so to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” I answered, getting an indignant squawk from the other end.

“Less with the sarcasm, buster.” Shiro replied. “You know that there are no end of guys who would love to hear my sweet voice in their ear to enliven a dry, dull afternoon. And I know you are one of them, Aki!”

“Yeah, well that’s only because they don’t know you, right?” I teased her. “I do, however. And while you may be beautiful, you make up for that by causing trouble. Every time we go out you end up collapsing, and Hayato-san or I end up having to look after you. So, anyway, what’s up? You never answered my question.”

“Ugh, you are just an Aki, you don’t get to talk down to a princess like me! It isn’t my fault I’ve always been frail. Men are supposed to like protecting fragile girls, right, right! So appreciate me more!” She groused, causing me to smile. Shaeula and Shiro, what a pair…

“My bad. So, seriously, why are you calling? I’ve got a lot on, so if it isn’t important…”

“Whoa, everything I want is important. Besides, did you forget? You said when you got back from your trip we’d all get together, the old gang. Besides, apparently Hayato has some news to share. I think you can guess?”

Oh, yeah. I think I can. “So, Hayato-san’s got a girl then? Do you think Hina-chan worked up the courage to confess, or…” I hoped she had. Everyone with eyes could see that the shy Hina-chan was crushing hard on Hayato-san, as he was a very friendly and approachable guy, the centre of our group for sure.

“She’d better have. After all, she came to me for advice and I told her to just go for it.” Shiro said proudly. “You don’t get anywhere in life by waiting for others to notice how you feel. That’s some free advice for you too, Aki.”

I couldn’t help but think that advice wasn’t as helpful as she thought, as telling someone shy to well… not be shy… was archetypal in its obviousness and difficulty, but it was so very Shiro.

“Anyway, how about this weekend? Apparently the job that Hayato has is going well. I hear you did a ton for him. Speaking of…” her tone changed, becoming wheedling and sickly-sweet. “… you think you can do a bit more for me, Aki? I’m making good progress, so if you could do just a bit more that’d really help me out. I’ll let you buy me a drink as your reward!”

Hah, some reward huh? She even offers boons like Shaeula, making a favour for her seem like one for me. Unfortunately, now is NOT a good time for me… not with the Territory dispute, and my family and the Mori’s visiting…

“Sorry, I’m afraid I’m really busy this weekend. I’ve got a lot going on myself. Sadly I’ll have to give it a miss, unless you can postpone a week? As for your work, now isn’t a good time, but in the future, I might be able to squeeze a little in, for old times’ sake…”

“… so, not only did you not call when you got back from your trip, now you can’t even make it out socialising with your dearest friends? You disappoint me, Aki. This princess is very sad indeed.” She put on a voice of mock disappointment. “I’ll speak to Hayato, he’ll probably reschedule if it means we can get everyone together, but really… are you just upset that you’ll be the only one in the group that is still a single loser? It’s that isn’t it, poor Aki…”

Seriously, you are still single aren’t you, Shiro? Or are you forgetting that?

“… you know, I’ll let you cry on my shoulder. Most guys would kill to have a beautiful princess listen to their woes. You can pour my drinks and tell me all about your ideal woman. Though don’t get the wrong idea, even if I’m being nice to you and your fragile heart, I’m not for you! Bank balance of a hundred million yen minimum to even get a date…”

Oh my, if only you knew… I let out a chuckle as I started fiddling with my phone, causing her to ask what was so funny. I found the photo I wanted to send, and once it was done I waited.

“What… a photo? If this is a lewd one I’m going to sue you, Aki. You can’t defile the eyes of a princess… hang on, what… who… uh?”

As she trailed off dumbfounded I burst out laughing, my chuckles growing to full-throated mirth. It was rare to throw Shiro off her act, but very satisfying, considering how often I had ended up the butt of her jokes in the past.

“Hey, so… this photo. It’s not a photoshop job, right? You haven’t gone off the deep end, finally tired of being alone? If I’d have known it was this bad, I’d have…”

“Enough with the jokes Shiro. You’ve heard me talk about her before, right? Besides, you said it yourself earlier, you don’t get anywhere in life by waiting, right?” I chose to ignore the fact that it wasn’t I that stopped waiting, but Eri…

“That’s Shirohime.” She responded reflexively. “… so, that’s your mythical childhood friend, right? Her and your sister were the only two girls you ever talked about, so… uh, hey, that’s an engagement ring there, right?”

“It sure is. That’s why this weekend is no good. Eri’s family is coming to Tokyo, and we need to… iron out… a few things.” My father is coming too. My stomach hurts just thinking about it…

“My whole worldview is crashing down. Aki got engaged. Didn’t even pause at the girlfriend stage. I’m shocked, I thought you were holding out the vain, futile hope that I’d go out with you. Poor deluded Aki. Still… congratulations, I guess. Damn, my mind can’t process this, and I’m a genius! It’s that shocking!”

Our banter continued for a while, and when she discovered I had proposed atop the Strat in Las Vegas, Shiro was jealous. Not of me of course, but that Eri had such an experience. She did accept that this weekend really wasn’t the time for me to be partying, and she promised to square things with Hayato-san. Though she did twist my arm into promising to do some more work for her, as, how did she put it… compensation for the mental distress I caused her by no longer being the Aki she knew…

“Yeah, so I won’t tell anyone why you can’t make this weekend.” Shiro finished up. “We might as well have two happy surprises as well as one.”

Is it really a surprise when you already told me about Hayato-san and Hina-chan? Not that it matters, I guess.

“Yeah, well, the drinks’ll be on me.” I promised, bringing a happy agreement from Shiro. “Just… try not to collapse this time, okay? Hayato-san and I shouldn’t be carrying pretty girls around anymore, we are taken.”

“Ugh, Aki has a big head. Fine… I’ll be on my best behaviour, talk to you later, anyway…”

With that call finished I decided to treat myself to a beer. I had to admit it felt pretty good finally having a rebuttal to her teasing. Still, Shiro was a long-term friend, so I didn’t really mind it, it was all in good humour. Opening up a can with a satisfying ting, I took a swig. My phone had other messages, from Karen-chan, as I suspected, so I gave her a call as well.

“Oh, Akio-kun… err, sorry, manager…” Karen-chan began, but I cut her off.

“Akio-kun is fine. No need to stand on ceremony. It’s just you and Shaeula working for me right now, and she’s not big on formalities, so no worries. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Well, I’m here at the shrine, having tea and sweets again. It’s nice, but… well, I feel a bit like a wage thief. There isn’t really much for me to do here, the building work seems to be going smoothly. The plumbers are replacing the toilet and making sure the bath works, as you requested, and over on the main construction site machinery and supplies are being unloaded on schedule. Still, I’ve got to say I’m impressed you knew about the obscure planning laws that allow shrines special privileges. Otherwise there’d have been no way you’d have got permission to build here, not for months or even years…”

Wait, what? I didn’t even think of planning laws… “Yeah, things worked out perfectly.” I chuckled nervously, bluffing. “Anyway, don’t worry about it, just enjoy the downtime, you will be busy in the future to make up for it. Hey, that reminds me…” That’s right. I might as well put her to use…

“Yes, I’m all ears, Akio-kun.”

“There’s a shrine a bit to the north…” I explained about the location of the shrine that matched up with the one our enemy controlled in the Boundary. “… so I’d like you to find out all the information about it. Nothing is too trivial. And if you get chance, you can also scour for rumours about any strange happenings in the surrounding area.”

“… Well, you are the boss. It’s certainly a strange request though.”

“I did say there’d be a few of those, didn’t I? But it’d be helping me out, so I’d appreciate it.”

“Well, like I said, you are paying my wages. I’ll get right on it. Will you be visiting Shirohebizumi today?”

I thought about it before shaking my head. “No, not today. I have other stuff to do. So I’ll leave you to get on with things.”

“Roger that, Akio-kun.” And with that she hung up.

Looking down at my thigh, there was a patch of pale, mostly healed skin, all that remained of the wound that I had suffered in the Boundary version of Takakura Antiques. It was healing at a rapid rate, bolstered by both my Ether Healing and high stats. Though I think I can fix it fully. I don’t want Eri to see my body full of scars after all.

The only ones I would leave would be the faint ones on my abdomen that the dog had left long ago, as they were wounds of pride. Other than that… time to get to work. I’m close to improving the skill again…